Improvement in can-sealing devices



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD WELLS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAN-SEALING DEVICES.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 173,093, dated February 1, 1876 application filed December 27, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD WELLS, of Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented a new and Improved Device for Hermetically Sealing Clans and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

I exact description of the same, reference being ical means, and the can then hermetically sealed. It consists in a plug of metal or other suitable material, screw-threaded, so as to be securely located in the lid or cover of the can. The said plug is hollow, and is also screwthreaded upon its inner surface, into which an interior plug carrying an elastic stopper is screwed. This interior plug is provided with side grooves for the escape of the air, and has a squared recess on its top to receive the end of a wrench or turning-shaft, which passes through a detachable chamber having communicationwith the exhausting apparatus.

In the drawing, A represents the outer plug, which is screw-threaded and permanently secured into the cork, stopper, cap, or cover of the can, so as to form a part thereof. Said plug may be made of metal, wood, or any other suitable material. It is made hollow, with interior screw-threads at a, and 'a tapering communication, b, with the interior of the can, smaller at the bottom than at the top. B is the inte rior or central plug, which is screw-threaded to mesh with a, and lias a tapering elastic stop per, 0, below, which, when pressed into the tapering hole b, seals all communication with the can. The said plug B is provided with side grooves orchannels d for the escape of the air before it is screwed down, and has also in its top a squared recess,c, into which the end of a specially-constructed screw-driver or wrench is inserted to screw in the plug and press down the stopper. D isa detachable cap, screw-threaded at e, so as to mesh with the upper screw-threads f of the plug A, and

provided with a packing, g, so that when it is screwed down upon the plug it formsan airtight chamber. This chamber is provided with a communication, E, for the exhausting .in the packing k.

The operation of this device is as follows:

The plug A being first screwed in to the cover or cap of the can, the interior plug B is placed loosely in position, and the detachable cap I) is then screwed tightly on. The air from the can is then exhausted by suitable means through the communication E, and-as soon as this has been sufficiently accomplished, the wrench F isdepressed until its squared end is in the square recess of the plug B. The wrench being then rotated, the plug B is screwed in, and the elastic stopperO is forced into the tapering hole I), thus hermetically sealin g the can. The cap D is then detached, and the plug left remaining in the top of the can, a separate one being employed for eachcan. Instead of having the cap D and its co-operatin g parts detached, as 'shoWn,'I may make- RICHARD WELLS.

Witnesses:

HENRY M. WARFIELD, JOHN S. MANLY. 

